A Group 1 winner of the Caulfield Guineas by Snitzel, Griff won four races from 1200m to 1600m – one as a juvenile and three at stakes level as a 3yo – and over $2 million in prize money.
The individuals and families present in Griff’s pedigree described below, are accompanied by suggested sires to seek in mares’ pedigrees (marked in BOLD) to complement or reinforce these important families.
Snitzel has shown above average affinity with daughters and granddaughters of I AM INVINCIBLE, LONHRO, STRAVINSKY, NEDIYM (and son GENERAL NEDIYM); ELUSIVE QUALITY (sons SEPOY, BULLBARS); TALE OF THE CAT; LAST TYCOON (sons BIGSTONE, MONDE BLEU, MARJU, IGLESIA, O’REILLY – grandsons WRITTEN TYCOON, BRUTAL, GRUNT, SHAMEXPRESS, ALAMOSA); HIGH CHAPARRAL (sons DUNDEEL, TORONADO, SO YOU THINK, CONTRIBUTER etc); SUCCESS EXPRESS, BEL ESPRIT and STARCRAFT.
LONHRO mares in particular, have worked very well with Snitzel, with 21% stakes winners to runners (19 runners at time of writing) bred on this cross. In addition to working with his sire Snitzel, Lonhro should also be very compatible with Griff’s dam, whose second damsire is Commands. Like Lonhro’s sire OCTAGONAL, Commands is a member of the LADY JOSEPHINE family. Further line breeding to this prepotent matriarch can be achieved by using mares carrying DEEP FIELD, SHOOTING TO WIN, NEDIYM, NORTH REEF, KAAPSTAD, KEMPINSKY, MOUAWAD, KALAMOUN, MOSSMAN, KBENJAR and NASSIPOUR.
ENCOSTA DE LAGO mares have also had success with Snitzel, with the G1 winners Sword of State, Invader and Summer Passage bred on this cross. Encosta de Lago’s sire descendants include NORTHERN METEOR, DEEP FIELD, SHOOTING TO WIN, NEEDS FURTHER, EUROZONE, FIGHTING SUN, RUBICK, ZOUSTAR, ZOUSAIN and MANHATTAN RAIN.
ENCOSTA DE LAGO is also a close relation to Flying Spur, damsire of Sebring in Griff. He therefore also creates valuable line breeding to FANFRELUCHE.
Griff carries Danehill (three lines), Halo and a total of eleven lines to Northern Dancer, all tracing to ALMAHMOUD. MACHIAVELLIAN is not only another ALMAHMOUD family member, but he is also out of a daughter of Halo, sex balancing the son (Southern Halo) in Griff. Suitable Machiavellian male descendants include STREET CRY, STREET BOSS, PER INCANTO, PRIDE OF DUBAI, STREET SENSE, SHOCKING and VETTORI, all of whose daughters should mate very well with Griff.
Redoute’s Choice, Domesday, The Minstrel (twice) and Nijinsky II (twice) are members of the very influential TORPENHOW family IN Griff’s pedigree and could benefit from the addition of other members including MANHATTAN RAIN, RUBICK, NIAGARA, MASTERCLASS, NEW REGENT, SPINNING WORLD, EL GRAN SENOR, FAR NORTH, UMATILLA, XAAR, HURRICANE SKY, FREE AMERICA and GOOD JOURNEY. Mares from the TRY MY BEST (sire of LAST TYCOON) line have produced over 12% stakes winners to runners by Snitzel, including Wandjina, Splintex and Best of Bordeaux to-date.
Daughters or maternal granddaughters of MORE THAN READY will create a sex balanced duplication of this influence, who appears via son Sebring in Griff’s pedigree.
More Than Ready is a member of the LA TROIENNE family, as is his damsire Woodman and Woodman’s damsire, Buckpasser, who is also present in the three lines of Danehill. More La Troienne family members to seek for Griff include SCREEN HERO, CONGRATS, PRIVATE ACCOUNT, THE AXE II, BELONG TO ME and FOREST GLOW.
Griff’s dam Chateau Griffo has Bin Ajwaad as her second damsire. A member of the famous PRETTY POLLY family, he boosts the presence of fellow family member Nearctic in Griff, who appears 12 times within 8 generations, mainly as sire of Northern Dancer. Bin Ajwaad’s closest male relatives include CAPE CROSS, DIKTAT (sire of DREAM AHEAD) and IFFRAAJ (sire of TURN ME LOOSE, RIBCHESTER and WOOTTON BASSETT), so their daughters will be valuable.
Griff’s fourth dam Shadow Dancer is a three-quarter sister to RHYTHM (NZ), who would also be valuable in a mare’s pedigree.
Author: Jane Henning, March 2025